2017 SOP1 Group Photo–L/R Juan Carlos Sanchez De Fuentes, Thema Black, Daisy Wang, Fred Tesone, Hayley Webb, Michael Gellerstedt, Laurelee Martens, Chance Punahele Ortiz,Heather Morse, & Dennis Fahringer. Also featuring Keiko the dog. [Fuji X-E2, Fuji 18-55mm, ISO 200, ƒ/9, 1/80]

A month from now I will be back in Kona, Hawaii to teach the YWAM School of Photography 1 portrait lighting and business practices for a week.

This group photo is last year’s class. This year’s group will be twice the size of last year.

While I will be teaching a great deal about lighting the business practices is the one thing that over the years has proven even more valuable to the classes.

“How do you make a living doing photography?”, is answered through solid business practices.

Knowing your Cost-Of-Doing-Business and how to price your work doesn’t get you clients. It only makes sure that you make money when you price jobs rather than losing money.

How do you get those clients? Well this is the Catch-22 of Freelancing.

When you are a professional photographer you are like every other business person. You are in the business of solving people and businesses problems through the use of photography.

What you need to be doing is interviewing people and listening. You need to find out what their problems are so that you can pitch to them solutions for which you can provide those services.

Having a portfolio is like any other business where you can display your wares, or as in this example Maine lobster buoys on the side of the road of commerce.

If the client know what they need then this works really well, except now your work is more of a commodity. This is an article of trade or commerce, especially a product as distinguished from a service. Due to your work being seen as a commodity it is much harder to get prices that work with your Cost-Of-Doing-Business.

You need to be seen as a visionary for the person’s business and not just a commodity if you are in the creative arts type of a business.

You need to put yourself in situations where you get to listen to business people talk about what they do. You need to learn about their business. You need to ask questions that give you understanding.

Only when you really understand what problems they are facing with their business can you then think of ways that you can help solve some of those problems.

Now often they do not even know that your solution is to a problem they have. This will come over time where you start to recognize problems facing business owners and knowing that there are solutions you have done for others that could work for another business.

Here is the Catch-22 you must face each day to make a living as a photographer. You have solutions for a business to thrive, but you must first find a way to know what problem a particular business is facing before you can offer a solution.

Making this even more complicated is that if the client already knows what they need then you will be treated as a commodity. You need to be the photographer that has business solutions and not just the ability to take a picture.

Blue Bird on my Bird-feeder in Roswell, GA [Fujifilm X-E3, 55-200mm, ISO 1000, ƒ/4.8, 1/200 – Flashpoint Zoom Li-on R2 TTL & Flashpoint R2 TTL transmitter]

Before Christmas, my friend Dennis Fahringer forwarded me a special Adorama had on their  Flashpoint Zoom Li-on R2 TTL & Flashpoint R2 TTL transmitter. The flash was $119, and the transmitter was $46.

I bought the Godox VING V860IIN TTL Li-Ion Flash Kit for Nikon with its transmitter because I loved the Neewer TT850, which is pretty much the same flash as the TTL capabilities.

Neewer, Godox, and Flashpoint are all the same company but are marketed differently. Flashpoint is the Adorama-branded system with more warranties than the others.

I have not bought the studio version of the system yet, but I plan to do so soon. This week, they introduced the newest version of the studio  Flashpoint XPLOR 600PRO TTL Battery-Powered Monolight (Bowens Mount) – Godox AD600 Pro. This sells for $899 without the transmitter.

The XPLOR 600Pro TTL is the next evolution of the Flashpoint R2 radio system, compatible with the R2 Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, and Olympus/Panasonic TTL auto flash systems for remote power control and shooting.

Using the bird feeder in my backyard, I tested how well the camera worked with the HSS of 1/4000. The flash supports the FP mode (high-speed flash sync), in which the flash outputs continuous light while the first and second curtains travel across the sensor, enabling flash photography at any shutter speed.

The range of the radio transmitter from the camera to the flash is 330ft / 100m. Recycle time is <4 seconds. This is great for more than 600+ full-power flashes with the Lithium battery.

You need to use their studio heads if you want something faster. The Flashpoint XPLOR 600PRO TTL Battery-Powered Monolight recycle time is approximately 0.01- 0.9 seconds.

When you think of the exposure triangle, you believe all are affected as you change the others.

There is a kink in this because when you use a flash, the light volume is pretty much the same as you shorten the duration. The problem through the years was the ability to shrink the shutter speed and sync with the flash. This has now been pretty much solved in the last few years. So, shortening the shutter speed impacts the available light (The Sun) if outside and not the flash as much.

Earlier, I showed how I did this with the Nikon system. I can do the same with my Fuji X-E3 and the Flashpoint Zoom Li-on R2 TTL & Flashpoint R2 TTL transmitter.

Now, the cool thing about picking up the studio flash Flashpoint XPLOR 600PRO TTL Battery-Powered Monolight (Bowens Mount)—Godox AD600 Pro is that it works with all the transmitters for Nikon, Fuji, Sony, Canon, and Olympus. So, my two camera systems can use the same studio flash in TTL mode.

I look forward to shooting more with my Fuji X-E3 and the Flashpoint Zoom Li-on R2 TTL & Flashpoint R2 TTL transmitter in the months ahead. I love such a small system for travel.

Witchdoctor and his family in Togo, West Africa [Nikon D5, Sigma 35mm ƒ/1.4 DG Art, ISO 100, ƒ/1.4, 1/2500]

I believe that many journalists look for validation that the work they are doing is essential. I sure do look for it myself. I want to know that I am making a difference.

However, I believe that too many put that validation within the industry through awards given mainly by the high priests of journalism. Awards like the Pulitzers and POYs are judged by our peers and not by our audience.

I stopped entering contests more than 25 years ago and only recently can articulate why. I felt like the awards didn’t validate if the stories I worked on making a difference in the audience’s lives.

When journalism is done right, it is often a languid pace of change in the communities it serves. Sometimes the most challenging part of the job is our impact can take years to see. Sometimes we take credit for the change. We see that is the work of others long before we came on to the scene.

As journalists, we should look to our audiences and how they respond to our stories about our communities for validation.

Though it may be interesting or even entertaining, the maximum value of news is as a utility to empower the informed. The purpose of journalism is thus to provide citizens with the information they need to make the best possible decisions about their lives, communities, societies, and governments.

We need to ask ourselves, “Who’s paying attention? Why does the story need to be told? Why should the audience care?”

When the inner drive in our souls is that of a calling to journalism, it is much easier to endure a long time, sometimes necessary, to see any real change.

I am most depressed from burnout when I am no longer in touch with the audience and know what they care about. If there are stories we think they should care about, and they don’t, then this is where I struggle the most.

I have discovered that when I see no impact from my work, it is often because the metaphors and similes I may be using do not resonate with the audience. I must know my audience so that while doing the story, I think of what the audience would be interested in and why.

One of the best questions journalists should ask themselves is not how much time they spend telling their stories but how much time they spend getting to know their audience.

Once you have sought to understand your audience and your subject entirely, only when great journalism can take place.

[Nikon D5, Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8, ISO 8000, ƒ/2.8, 1/4000]

Every year I cover the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. These games have been some of the most watched in the Bowl Series. Many close games and big upsets have taken place.

This year it was a match-up between the SEC and the AAC conferences. The University of Central Florida achieved perfection, upsetting Auburn for a 13-0 season.

Auburn fought hard but had three turnovers, while UCF only had 1. This was the difference that helped UCF defeat Auburn 34-27.

The game was close throughout the four quarters. They traded scores back and forth, keeping it close.

UCF is Nation’s Second-Largest University. The University of Central Florida has become the second-largest university in the nation in student enrollment, surpassing Ohio State.

The hard part about covering football is the tension about shooting too tight so that you don’t see the competition.

I couldn’t switch cameras fast enough on one touchdown, so my lens was too tight to show the playing crossing the end zone.

One thing I did enjoy capturing with the UCF players was the joy they had for the game.

These are just some of the action shots I captured from the game.

Christmas Family Photo [Nikon D5, Sigma 24-105mm ƒ/4, ISO 400, ƒ/8, 1/200 – (2) Godox V860IIN + Godox X1NT with MAGMOD MagSphere]

This is a family photo we did this year of our family with my wife’s family. One of our son’s couldn’t be there and had to work with a new job.

To get this final photo required me to be behind the camera saying “Do you want a treat?” to get the three dogs in the middle to look at the camera.

So this is actually the photo I took with me behind the camera.

Here are the steps to then add me into the photo with dogs looking the best.

Open photo with me in photo shop. Open the second photo in photo shop with dogs looking best. Select all and copy the photo of dogs best.

Go to the photo with me in it and paste the other photo on top of it.

You will now have two layers. the top will be the one with dogs looking best and I am not in the photo. See the copy of PhotoShop screen grab.

Now we need to create a mask. Down below the layers click on the mask.

It will now look like what I have screen grabbed here for you. Be sure the brackets are around the mask (white box) and that it is the top photo, which is the one without me. We are going to use the eraser and now erase the empty chair and reveal me.

You just need to brush me in. See the photo of the tools here. Pick the eraser. It has box around it.

Next be sure the foreground color is black and on top. This will let you erase me.

Now if you make a mistake you can then click so that the white is on top and use the same brush and brush back the photo on top.

 As you brush you can see in the mask that what you brush over becomes black.

Now when we I finished and showed the photo they wanted the small dog on the far left to look at the camera as well. So I looked for a photo of the small dog looking great.

So I found this photo and then using the same technique brushed in the dog.

Here the tips you need to follow to make this work.

First put the camera on a sturdy tripod. You want to lock down the composition so that nothing changes.

Second do not change the zoom if you are using one.

Third if you are in the photo use the timer or use a remote to fire the camera. I had left my remote so I set the camera timer to 10 seconds.

Fourth, be sure you have good lighting on everyone. For this photo I used two Godox V860IIN + Godox X1NT with MAGMOD MagSphere. Here is what the setup looked like:

Christmas in Sparta, New Jersey. [Fujifilm X-E3, 18-55mm, ISO 12800, ƒ/4, 1/60]

We are celebrating Christmas in Sparta, New Jersey, this year. This is my wife’s hometown.

She hasn’t been home to celebrate Christmas since 1985. We have spent many years together with my family in North Carolina.

Joey is my brother-in-law, and while eating dinner, he realized my family’s traditions might be different, and he asked me what we did for family traditions at Christmas.

What I am really excited about is that our family is willing to do something different to be part of our family we haven’t had as much time with this year.

Just seeing the decorations around the house reminds me that these are new traditions for us to be exposed to.

Dorie and I went to see The Man Who Invented Christmas earlier this year. The movie is the journey that led to Charles Dickens’ creation of “A Christmas Carol,” a timeless tale that would redefine the holiday.

While you may have some excellent traditions for your family at Christmas, ask others about their habits and why they do them. Maybe you will also learn to redefine the holiday for your family this year.

Maybe the process will bring you closer to Christ, whom this holiday is about.

Only the humble believe him and rejoice that God is so free and so marvelous that he does wonders where people despair, that he takes what is little and lowly and makes it marvelous. And that is the wonder of all wonders, that God loves the lowly…. God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings. God marches right in. He chooses people as his instruments and performs his wonders where one would least expect them. God is near to lowliness; he loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak and broken.

― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas

Do you have an “image library” for your organization? What is an “image library”? It is a pool of pictures that you commission that will be used in many different ways for mainly internal and external communications. Sometimes, but rarely are they used for advertising.

Today many of those with “image libraries” are hosting these online through intranet or Internet for different departments and even the organization’s agencies to use.

Previously, non-profits and educational institutions commissioned this work due to budget constraints. Still, the need to feed social media with ongoing content is becoming popular for corporations.

When I shoot for an “Image Library” production, the coverage is quite broad—often looking for diversity and showing some of the operations that go on daily. We tend to have alerted departments we are coming at a particular time, and then we capture their people working. We may move them around and even have them change outfits, like asking them to put on a lab coat.

I have recommended that companies subscribe to online services like Libris by PhotoShelter. [https://libris.photoshelter.com/]

You can give access based on passwords or by email/password that gives you protection for your images.

Strong visuals can connect with an audience faster and more emotionally than words alone. Storytelling remains at the heart of good communication. The power of images in modern touch is irrefutable.

The approaches for doing an “Image Library” production vary widely. You can do high-production shoots back to back, where lighting and styling give you high-quality images. This tends to be where the photographer creates images rather than capturing them.

You can go to the other extreme, where the photographer uses little or no lighting and captures mainly what already exists in situations. You are paying for the years of experience of the photographer to capture images within a case.

Sometimes there is a mixture of high production and existing light depending on your organization’s needs.

Doing bi-annual or annual “Image Library” shoots gives your communications team images to help with the messaging you need to be doing to engage your audience.

Roswell Fire Department is monitoring a tree whose branches are in the transformer, causing some arcing from power lines. [Nikon D5, Sigma 24-105mm ƒ/9, ISO 81275, ƒ/4, 1/100]

Just two days ago, the local television stations were predicting 1″ to 2″ of snow possible in metro Atlanta. As you see in the first photo, we had the fire department monitoring arcing of a transformer since the snow had weighted down the branches of a pine tree into it.

This morning I woke up to 6″ on our back porch with the snow still falling.

We enjoyed looking out our back windows to see the snow. Staying warm and seeing the snow is a great way to appreciate the beauty of snow.

Here I was able to capture our Christmas tree, all decorated with the snow falling outside the window.

When the snow started to fall, I went out to get some photos figuring that we were getting that 1″ they had predicted.

I used my Godox V860IIN with the Godox X1NT to trigger the flash-off camera. On the flash, I was using the MagMod MagSphere to modify the light. This let me get a great color temperature on the leaves and flowers as I got in close.

I found it cool to see still evidence of Fall with the snow. We are still a few weeks from Winter.

We are staying warm this Saturday morning and watching the snow still fall.

This morning I had to clear the snow off the top of the bird feeder. The snow had weighted down the top, making our squirrel-proof bird feeder now birdproof.

This morning the snow has whited out our backyard.

We are having all kinds of birds visit us.

Enjoying my time today with nature.

I had a lot of fun this weekend shooting some soccer shots. This is one of my favorite images from the day.

I am lying on the ground shooting with my 14-24mm Nikon lens at 14mm. The guy landed on me once; it might have been with this photo. As Robert Capa said, “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough.” I was trying to get close to creating more impact with the photos.

The first photo I took was this typical team photo. I picked a location where I had the sun directly behind them and then used two Godox V860IIN and triggered them with the Godox X1NT.

This kept them from squinting.

Then I moved the players around for different poses.

Then I just got lower to make them look more like heroes.

Then I tried another pose.

When you are shooting for the art director they need choices.

I also shot some verticals as well as some action during the scrimmage.

So everything I shot, I tried to get both verticals and horizontal shots for options.

The problem with actual action shots during a game is the light isn’t quite as lovely as when you set something up to get that “poster” shot.

While I could have shot the photos with the two strobes on TTL, I used the manual to get consistent output. When you move to a low angle with more sky, the camera meter will want to change the flash output and the camera exposure. I tried to control it, so it was consistent.

I recommend not always shooting with TTL for your flash. It will get you in the ballpark quickly, but the beat consistency as things move isn’t as good as shooting in manual mode.

This is the Macchiato I was drinking at a restaurant during our Storytellers Abroad Multimedia Workshop in the Balkans. A Caffé Macchiato or Espresso Macchiato is a shot or two of espresso, with just a small amount of steamed milk that “marks” the espresso, though in some regions, the steamed milk comes first, and the espresso makes the mark. [Nikon D5, Sigma 35mm ƒ/1.4, ISO 100, ƒ/1.4, 1/400]

Most of my days start with a good cup of coffee. Every day I also do three things which I think you may do.

I look to the past. I often take a moment to reflect. I ponder what I have done this year and what happened a year ago.

Facebook even has a message that pops up most days about posts from the past.

Your Memories on Facebook

Stanley, we care about you and the memories you share here. We thought you’d like to look back on this post from 7 years ago.

Thanksgiving, I think, made all of us look back. We thought o a family that is no longer with us. We thought of past thanksgivings with family and friends.

This Saturday, my wife got a phone call from her friend Stacy Carter’s husband. Stacy had experienced a massive brain aneurysm followed by full cardiac arrest. She died later that night.

When we lose a loved one unexpectedly, this causes us to spend a lot of time reflecting.

I immediately thought of my children after thinking about Stacy’s two boys and her husband. I thought of how will my children do with me not here. I think about the future. What do I have to do later today, this week, and in the coming months?

I am at a lot more peace when I can look on my calendar and see enough work that I will be able to pay my bills for the next month or two. Freelancers are concerned about getting projects on the calendar to meet our obligations.

If there isn’t much on the calendar or nothing at all, I often panic. This is where I am thinking about what I can do to get some work.

I often take a few minutes to dream as well. What would I love to do in the future? Where would I love to go and see something new and adventurous?

I am often reflecting on my goals for life. At times I am adjusting to the circumstances to make plans that could potentially help me make those dreams a reality.

I think about the present. I take stock of where I am and my goals and then make my plans for the day, week, and even months ahead. This then has me active for the rest of my day.

I am writing emails, making phone calls, and working on ideas that need to be refined before I pitch them to my clients.

I also take some time to be thankful. Looking into my past, I can see the hardships I overcame to get where I am today. I also noticed that many people helped me along the way.

I am also reminded of how miraculous many of these people just came into my life at the right moment. I know these are what I call my “God Moments.” They cannot be explained any other way than there is something bigger than me at work in my life.

You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

2 Corinthians 9:11

Tomorrow has become “Giving Tuesday” in our country. Giving Tuesday, often stylized as #GivingTuesday for hashtag activism, refers to the Tuesday after U.S. Thanksgiving in the United States. It is a movement to create an international day of giving at the beginning of Christmas and the holiday. Giving Tuesday was started in 2012 by the 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation as a response to commercialization and consumerism in the post-Thanksgiving season (Black Friday and Cyber Monday).

This past weekend my wife and I saw The Man Who Invented Christmas. It is a biographical story of Charles Dickens writing A Christmas Carol.

In A Christmas Carol, we see how Scrooge deals with the Past, Present, and Future.

After the book came out, it revived much of the nostalgia and tradition we associate with Christmas today. Every time this piece of literature is read or displayed on the silver screen, it reminds us of a vision of Christmas that has little to do with displays of wealth and instead focuses on loved ones and the joy of an act of charity.

There are numerous accounts, from its publication through today, of people becoming exceptionally generous as a direct result of reading the story.

Take time today to look at your past, present, and future. I hope you, like Scrooge, can see that you can choose redemption as he did.

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”

― Charles Dickens